The Other Side of Jack
by Indigo6
Summary: Sam realises Jack has a secret side. A side that no one at the SGC has ever seen before.


For what seemed like hours Sam stood there, her eyes transfixed on her CO. How could he have condemned Alar to death? She could see in his eyes his need for forgiveness from her, but she thought it would be a long time before she was able to give it. Finally, after hearing the brief conversation between O'Neill and General Hammond, she tore herself away from his gaze, turned and walked out of the gate room. She was in need of a distraction and quickly. She found herself wandering the corridors of the SGC, and noticing that the locker room was empty, she walked in and closed the door. She didn't understand why he had just done that. Why? Why? Why?! She knew Daniel and Teal'c were oblivious to what Jack had done. They wouldn't understand why she was so upset. No. Angry. She was angry with Jack. Moving from where she had stationed herself on the wooden slats of the benches, she walked across to the wall. Raising her fist she slammed it as hard as she could against the plaster divides, pain shot through her body instantly. She may be a doctor in astrophysics, but that was a stupid thing to do. Jack was just lucky he hadn't been standing there instead of the hard walls.  
  
Jack slowly paced the SGC, he knew Carter was upset, he had seen that in her eyes. Regrets started drowning him, although deep down he knew there was a reason he had done what he'd done. Carter did too, but, maybe she just hadn't found it yet. As he mindlessly walked past the locker room, he heard a thump from inside and numerous exclamations of pain. He knew instantly it was Carter. What was she doing? All he knew was that he was glad he wasn't in there at that moment in time. "I'm going to regret this" he exclaimed as he gulped and slowly opened the door.  
  
Sam was crouching against the freshly cracked plasterboard grasping her right hand. Trust her to probably break her hand because she was angry with Jack. Suddenly, a sound from the door made her jump from her position on the locker room floor. "What happened?" exclaimed Jack, raising his eyebrows as he noticed the crumbling hole in the wall.  
  
"Nothing" she mumbled as she stood up and grasping her hand brushed past him and out of the vandalised room. "General Hammond wants to see us in ten minutes" he called dejectedly after her departing figure. Great! Sam thought to herself. She was in no mood to talk to General Hammond, especially not now, when her hand hurt like hell. "Better go and see Janet" she remarked, speaking to the air.  
  
"What's he done now?" Doctor Fraiser questioned as her friend entered the infirmary; Janet knew the influence Colonel O'Neill had over Sam. Sam turning a deep shade of pink lifted her hand, exposing the bruised knuckles. "Either I should be expecting a visit from Colonel O'Neill very soon or there's a wall somewhere with a hole in it" Janet cried with a hint of laughter. She was growing increasingly concerned about her friend who looked extremely pale. "Sit down here and tell me what happened" ordered the doctor. As Janet was looking at Sam's hand, she recalled the events of the last mission leading up to Jack ordering the iris to be closed. At the end of her tale, Sam was almost in tears and Janet's disbelief had driven her to silence. The doctor embraced her patient as tears began to fall down her ashen cheeks. Janet cradled Sam, consoling her friend while a nurse busily assessed her damaged hand.  
  
In the briefing room, the men were waiting for the arrival of Major Carter. Jack was staring into space, he had upset his 2IC, and he had to think of a way to make it up to her. Suddenly, Jack was startled out of his thoughts as Sam burst through the door. She made her apologies and rushed to sit down, hiding her bandaged hand, Daniel silently met her eyes as she hurried to sit down. He was silently asking her what happened but she just shrugged him off, she wasn't up to explaining herself just yet. Janet had assured her that she would sort out the wall in the locker room. That was a weight off Sam's mind, now all she had to worry about was her CO. She could feel his gaze burning into the top of her head as she found the dust on her lap very interesting. After the short debriefing, Sam couldn't get out of the room fast enough, Jack had wanted to talk to her, but she was too quick for him. She knew he wanted to talk but at that moment, she had nothing to say.  
  
On her way to her lab, Sam went via the locker room. Janet had kept her promise; the wall was good as new, and Sam made a mental note to thank her friend later. As she turned to leave, her face came into contact with a solid object; she slowly looked up and saw the determination in his eyes. She wasn't going to be able to leave before she had spoken to him and they'd sorted this out. She backed slowly into the room; their gazes never faltered from each other. Suddenly, he reached out to grab her as she began to trip over the central benches. As he touched the bare skin of her arm, electricity sparked between them. Never before had Samantha Carter felt the rush of passion, love and longing in such a simple touch and then the realisation hit her. Before, she couldn't understand why Colonel O'Neill had closed the iris. She couldn't understand why he had stolen the life of another. Now she saw it, he was trying to protect the SGC, but, it was much more than that. He was trying to protect her.  
  
As he pulled Sam back onto her feet, O'Neill saw the look in her eyes; it was then that he knew everything was going to be ok. He saw the forgiveness, but, there was something else too, love. Was that possible? She loved him and he loved her in return, more than she could ever know. One day, they would be together he was certain of that now. As for sorting out the problem of Alar, he knew they were strong enough to get through it. She hadn't forgiven him completely yet, but in time the wounds would heal. 


End file.
